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Monthly Archives: September 2013

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I decided today I’d brave the water and share baby bump pix with you and just share what’s been going on with my pregnancy since my last post about it. But don’t judge me. I’m way too lazy to do … Continue reading →

This weekend in Little Rock, the weather was gorgeous. After a hard, long rain on Friday, we woke up Saturday to fall temperatures, sunshine and a cool breeze. It was heaven. I started my weekend with Mrs. Aubri Duran – … Continue reading →

A couple weeks ago in Florida, my sister-in-law was telling me that she substitutes her pasta with spaghetti squash, as she is trying to lose weight after her second child. As a pasta lover, I have to admit I was skeptical, … Continue reading →

It’s no secret that we got a puppy. A super cute one named Dexter. He’s a golden doodle and an absolute doll! He’s super friendly and when you meet him for the first time he will make you feel so special and lick you to death. I love seeing him so friendly to everyone he meets!

Aside from being on cloud 9 from all the cuteness in our house puppies are a lot of hard work! I don’t think Matt and I really understood when people tried to tell us. We probably thought “oh you just had a difficult dog… or it’s just hard for you but we will make it work!” Oh how little did we know! The first few nights (and days) were rough on all of us. Dexter whined or cried every few hours and he had lots of accidents (one #2 accident I saw coming and caught in mid air with my hand towel as I was washing my face… my husband was hysterically laughing).

With that said everything is SO much better now. He sleeps all night in his crate but still wakes up just a little before we would prefer 🙂 He hasn’t had an accident in days but this is partly learning on our part too. We know about how long he can wait until he needs to go again.

The biggest challenge we still deal with is chewing and biting (because he needs something to chew on and that might be you!). He hasn’t destroyed anything but we’ve given him less freedom to roam so he won’t. We also try to make him tired at night by taking him on walks around the neighbor. Thankfully the weather is perfect for this right now and we’ve got a great backyard for him to do lots of running and playing.

We seriously can’t handle the cuteness sometimes. We just smother him with kisses and tummy rubs. But I’m glad the puppy stage is just a “stage” and we get to see what grown up Dexter will be like someday. Hopefully he’s still his friendly, adorable self but just a bit calmer 🙂

I was never a baby person. My sisters and I were never exposed to babies, never had baby dolls as toys (even if we did, they weren’t played with), and I rarely babysat anyone (let alone anyone under the age of 6). Usually babysitting for us was just hanging out with kids younger than us and “watching” them (aka watching MTV and ordering pizza while they played video games in the other room).

And while this whole thing is very exciting and has my heart filled with a joy I can’t explain, I’m also fearful of and questioning a lot of things these days.

1) How will I know what to do?

2) Will I be a good mom?

3) How tiring will it really be?

4) Will my baby be cute?

5) Will I miss my baby-less life a lot?

6) Are my friends going to avoid us?

7) When do I need to get the baby room ready?

8) How do I know what to register for and how much of each item?

9) Will the delivery hurt really bad?

10) How will I ever be able to go back to work and concentrate on work – how could I possibly stop thinking about the baby all day?

11) Will the daycare place really let me come visit 100x a day, and to feed as necessary?

12) Do we need to go to a birthing class?

13) Should we go to a parenting class?

14) Will they love God as much as I want them to?

15) How will I lose the weight?

16) Can we afford to give them the life we want to give them?

17) Will my parents be as involved as grandparents as mine were – I want them to be super close to my kids, as my grammy and poppop are/were unbelievably important to me?

18) Will I be able to breastfeed as long as I want to – with all the complications of going back to work and such?

19) How do I avoid fighting about how to parent, finances and the stresses we’ll face after the baby is born?

20) Is there any way to be sure the daycare we pick is better than the others we’ve toured?

21) Am I gaining too much weight? Too little?

22) Should I be showing more or less right now?

23) Why do I feel like crying sometimes when I think about the baby – happy tears, tears of anxiety, tears of impatience, etc.?

24) How is it that some girls my age were born with this baby thing where they’re aching to me moms the minute they hit puberty and then become instant rockstar moms the minute they find out they’re pregnant?

25) Is it OK if I am still ME as a mom? I want to be the same old Lindsay but with a baby on my hip and my designer bag on my shoulder (sorry, no Vera Bradley Diaper Bag for me). I want to still see my friends all the time and have fun.

26) How soon am I supposed to start educational stuff for the baby? Immediately? Does that mean reading to them and that’s enough? That’s adorable and I can so do that, but what else can I do to make them smart?

27) Sort of along the lines of question 26 … how do I ensure they’re smart and learn what they need to, when they need to?

28) Should we have stayed in Dallas so that we have family close as we raise a family?

29) How hard will it be without family nearby to help?

30) Is sending them to daycare as an infant going to be harmful to my bonding / my husband’s bonding with them?

31) Will I experience post-partum? And what the heck is post-partum anyway?

32) Is it bad that I think some moms are just so cheese-y and I don’t want to talk to my kids like that at all? I’ve heard that baby talk is bad for them, and talking to them normally makes them smarter – is that true?

33) How will our dogs react to the new baby? Will they behave? Will they love the baby and protect it? Will they be jealous and act out? Will they have to become outside dogs full-time?

34) Are other moms going to judge me for the way I am as a mom (which I don’t even know how I’ll be yet)?

35) Why does it take so long to make a baby – I want to meet it now?

36) Will a boy be better for me getting used to this mom thing first, or a girl?

37) Am I going to be mean?

38) Am I going to be a push-over?

39) How do we ensure we are a super tight-knit family and are always close throughout our lives?

40) When will I know the answers to all these questions and more?

I decided to share these here in hopes that it would be somewhat cathartic and elicit advice, wisdom and encouragement from you. If only these all magically became answered when the baby is born. 🙂

You many have seen pictures of a chalkboard frame at the recent surprise maternity party I helped throw for Mrs. Irvin, and due to many requests…here is how I made it. Supplies: -old frame (already had) – 1/8″ 2×4 temp … Continue reading →

Have you been seeing super cute envelope liners on Pinterest with these gorgeous invitations and you are probably thinking that costs a fortune?! Well I can’t really speak for the invitations because those could have really cost a fortune! But I’m going to show you how to make custom envelope liners for not a lot of money.

Custom envelope liners I made.

There are a few other envelope DIY envelope liner tutorials out there but I have two major tips that I’ve learned through trial and error. I’ve learned to use spray glue (little more work up front but much better coverage) and use your favorite wrapping paper! Lindsay always thinks I’m crazy every Christmas for using expense Container Store wrapping paper instead of the dollar store but I just love how nice and thick it feels plus it’s gorgeous… yes, I’m a paper nerd! But if you’ve ever been interested in have envelope liners for your personal stationary or Christmas cards you can do it and save a lot of money instead of buying the pre-made ones like on Etsy.

* The roll I bought above was $5 wrapping paper from Michael’s. Any medium to good quality wrapping paper should work. Just don’t get the super cheap kind that could rip easily when you are cutting.

Step 1: Cut your envelope liner out carefully with an x-acto knife. You can also trace it with a pencil and cut it out with scissors. Be sure you are cutting on the side you will be gluing, this will help hide any small mistakes. If you use an x-acto knife please be careful!

Step 2: Gather all your materials for spray gluing. I do this in my garage and as you can see it’s not glamorous! I use 3M spray glue, a face mask and paper to spray glue on.

Step 3: Spray glue just the top half of the envelope liners and about an inch below the fold. Don’t spray glue the whole thing, you’ll never get it in the envelope. Let the glue sit for about a minute before placing it in the envelopes.

Step 4: Place spray glued envelope liner inside envelope. This will be tricky at first so get a few testers going first. I try to place my hand down in with it then let it stick to the envelope.

Note: I’ve used the roll tape double side glue before and it is easier upfront but when you open up your envelope it tends to fall apart and not stick as well.

I think the extra effort is well worth the end result. Everyone will be so impressed and excited with the mail you’ve sent them!

I have the best sisters and friends in the whole world. This Saturday, they threw me a surprise party. Better yet? It was a surprise maternity wear shower. What’s that, you ask? It’s an original idea my sister Ashley came … Continue reading →